The Best Thing to Do When You're on Your Period.
You are bloated, uncomfortable and emotional. Your are more prone to feeling sensitive and vulnerable. Your productivity is shot to shit, and the only thing you can fathom doing is laying in bed, eating copious amounts of food—preferably coated in chocolate. All while simultaneously having blood flow out of your body.
This happens every month.
Rather than demanding yourself to push through it, to sack up—slow down and actually listen. Let your body rest, let her bleed, give her love. Give yourself permission to do the thing that is going to make you feel better.
You're probably feeling one or all of these things below, and this is how I want you to handle it:
“I feel disgusting”
You’re experiencing discomfort throughout your body. You feel heavy, bloated, boggled down with cramps, and suddenly you catch yourself looking in the mirror in utter disgust.
You are faced with body image issues, perhaps more than you’re used to.
Remind yourself that this is part of menstruation—this is how your body reacts. Don’t let something natural be accompanied with shame, embarrassment and self sabotage. Instead, proceed with consideration and compassion.
You can bring awareness to the change, without attaching it to a meaning. Instead of saying, “Ew. Gross. I am so bloated.” You can objectify it and say, “I am bloated because of my period. This is normal.”
Detach from the notion that implies your body’s biology is disgusting. You’re body is beautiful and so is the nature of it’s inner workings.
“I don’t want to move.”
Working out is beneficial, but it can also feel unbearable—especially when the flow is heavy. Rather than forcing yourself to exercise intensely, exercise intuitively.
The first couple of days might call for doing something easygoing. You’re body could be asking, “Hey, you. Can we do something laid-back today?”
Listening to your body’s intuition—she is communicating with you and it’s your job to honor her needs.
If she is asking you to slow down, you need to do exactly that. Self care isn’t always about vigorous exercise, sometimes it’s the exact opposite. Try going for a walk in mother nature or flowing through a vinyasa — move your body in a way that feels right. It could be something intense, but it could be something light. Let go of the narrative that’s telling you what you’re doing isn’t enough, because adhering to your body’s needs is more than enough.
“I want to eat everything!”
You’re hungrier and have more cravings than usual. While gluttony isn’t the answer, eating slightly a bit more could be. If you feel like consuming more food or need to have chocolate single night, do it—just don’t over do it.
Everything in moderation is fine. Restriction never works, especially on your period.
“Why am I crying?”
You don’t need to hide your emotions under a mask or have a justifiable reason as to why you feel the way you do. Cry for absolutely no reason, shred to tears, pour it all out.
It’s okay, you’re allowed.
All and all, you’re probably going to be moving less, eating more, feeling emotional AF. But, be kind to yourself, baby girl, because all of that is perfectly okay.